Swinging door



July 10, 1928.

W. S. GRAFF-BAKER S IIIIIIIII 0R W. S. GRAFF-BAKER swmeme DOO R July 10,1928. 1,676,375

Filed Feb. 12, 1926 I 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ma BY 41% v M MJW /Mm i; mu Wm MJuly 10, 1928, 1,676,375

w. s. GRAFF-BAKER' swmeme DOOR.

Filed Feb. 12, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATT'UIiNEYS July 10, 1928.1,676,375

w. s. GRAFF-BAKER v SWINGING DOOR Filed Feb. 12, 1926 4 Sheefcs-Sheet 4"04%] v Arm w: s

Patented July 10, 1928. i I

j 1,216,375" l i WILLIAM SEBASTIAN GRAFJi-BAKER, or EAlZiilIG, mama,,EneLAiT-D',,assrenon'rro THE NATIONALYPNEUMATIC COMPANY, QE'NEW YoBK,N. Y.,,' A CORPORATION or g 1 WEST VIRGINIA.

' sw neme noon.

- Application filed February 12,1926, Serial no, 87,745; and in Great'Britain'February14; i925.

-This' invention is for-improvementsin or relating to swingingdoors,'and has reference to the type of door which is arranged to-bedisplaced bodily, in swinging from itsopen to'its closedpo'sitions andvice versa, and atthe same time to be rotated about an axis lying inor-near to the generalplane of the door and parallel to the'lateraledges thereof, in such manner that said lateral edges, or'points locatednear them, travel in paths whereof the centre lines, produced if necesisaryintersect one another, one lateral-edge an axis intersecting, and.perpendicular :to,

travelling towards the point of intersection of the said centrelineswhil'e the other lateral edge travels away therefrom. In this typeof door, straight guide-tracks are provided, lying respectivelyalong'the aforesaid paths of movement ofthe lateral edges of thedo'or,-and co-operating guiding elements (usually rollers) are provided-onthedoor, at or near the lateral edgesthereot, to engage respectively withthe twoguide-tracks; 1

One object of the present invention tosupport the. door in animpro'vedmann'er'and render-itcapable of swinging more smoothly thanheretofore, Another obJect of the mvention is so toconstruct and arrangethe door that an operativeconnectionmzty, with:

convenience or advantage, be effected be: tween the door andan-operating mechanism therefor.

According to the primary' feature of the present invention thereisprovided a door of the type above described,which door ischaracterizedin that the guide-tracks areso =dis-- .posed that their centre linesintersect one another at right angles, and is furtherchar 2 a cterizedby the combination withthe door ,0f-' one or more opera-ting-arms whichare each hinged at one'en'd to a relatively sta-z tiona-r'ysupporttfor-exam'ple a door post orjan' equivalent part ofithe structureto which the door is a pp'lled) to swingabout each havejpijvotalconnection at the other i end" with the 'door,--theaxes of. pivoting atthe two ends of the arm' beingparaHel and so. disposedfthata planecontaining them" bisects or approximately bisects a line oinlllg thecentres of the 'guiding elements on the door co-operate' with theguidetrack'spx It will. be found that with the-above' construction thedoor is displaced bodily by means of th'e operating-arms and not asheretoforeby the constraint of the guide-.

tracks; .The path of bodily displacement of th edoor isgeometricallyrelatedt'o thepath' curring at thefguide-tracksflifs eliminated.

constitute the sole support for the weight of the door so that the'guidetracks are :re-

Preferably, the operating-arm or. arms e the door about itscentral'vertical axis. -Consequently, IIlUCllOf tllG strain previouslyoc lieved entirely of such weight and can, there-- I fore, functionmoreeasil. to turnr'th'e' door about lts central axis. here a pluralityotoperating-arms are provided these arepreferably fixed to a hinge-rodcommon to said arms and mounted in bearings:carried' by i the aforesaidrelatively I stationary 1 support.

This feature of fCOIIStI llCtlOIl' Gll'llllIlfLllBS the tendency of thedoor torack and consequently to jam inthe guide-tracks, bymaintaining inalignment' the axesJot pivotal-com necti'on between "the; arms and thedoor. With a door supported as indicated above it at the topand bottomof the door as has been necessary in the constructions known'heretofore. This is very distinctly an advantage in cases 'wh'erethere1s"nowhead-room or,

not-sufficient head-room above the door to and, sometimes, for a shortdistance inwardlyf f, thelatter being I along thecontour of the roo cutaway above the door, 1 I i v The invention further comprises ,the provision of a door constructed ,as -above set forth and having combinedwith it means (for example a compressed-air motor operatively connected,to one of'theoperating-arms) for rotating the operating-arms aboutthejaxis i D. 7 o

of "their hinge-connection with: Qthe -'door- -pos't'.j This arrangementis advantageous in that whilst the door cannot be openedby hand by'pushing it sideways; the door may' readily be opened with but littleeffort 8 s unnecessary to provide 'guide tracks both operating-arms bythe operating mechanism acting through the operatingarms.

In a mechanically operated door as just mentioned, it is a feature ofthe invention, to arrange the operating motor beneath the Afccording toa further feature of the invention the operating-arms in a mechanicallyoperated door are coupled'by a connecting rod toa motor crank arm to bemanipulated thereby,.and the said crank arm and connecting rod are soconstructed and arranged that a line joining the pivots at the ends ofthe connectingrod passes through the door is in its closed position.way' a conditionof dead centres is provided the axis of rotation of thecrank arm when both against movement to open the door by wardly.

, way vehicle.

pushing it sideways and by pushing it in- For a. more completeunderstanding of the invention there will now be described, by way ofexample only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, certainconstructions of door according to; the invention; It is tobe'understood, however, that the invention is not restricted to theprecise constructional details set forth.

In the drawings, U

Figure 1 is an elevation showing a door according to the presentinvention in closed position in a doorway at the side of a rail- Figure2 is another elevation taken-in section on the line'2-2 of Fig. '3. Itwill be appreciated that Figs. 1 and 2 are elevations looking indirections at right angles to each other.v

Fig. 3 is'a plan view taken in section on the line 3-3 of Fig." 2.

Fig/i is a view correspondingto Fig. 3 of a modified construction ofdoor, and

Fig. 5 is a similar view of another modified construction.

i Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughoutlthe drawings.

Referring firstly to Figs. 13, the door therein shown iswholly supportedupon.

avertical door-post 11 which extends from thefioor 12 to the roof 13 ofthe vehicle. The door 10 carries brackets 14-. and 15 which pivotaliyreceive the extremities of oper- In this.

ating-arms 16 and 17 respectively, these operating-arms at their otherends being fixed one above the other upon a vertical carries rollers 21and 22 which are intended to be received in guide-tracks 23 and 2stformed in thefloor 12. Thesetracks 23 and '24 areeach straight and theyare so disposed that their centre lines are perpendicular to one anotherand intersect in the axis of the posed towards the two upright edges ofthe 7 door and are intended to run one in the track 23 and the other inthe track 24. V

The axis of the pivotal connection between the arms 16 and 17 and thedoor 10 is, parallel to the axis of therod 18 and this first-named axisis so disposed midway be tween the rollers 21 and 22 aforesaid as tobisect a strai ht line joining the centres thereof. lVith thisconstruction, as the roller 22 travels towards the rod 18 the roller 21travels away therefrom, and vice versa. The closed position of the dooris shown in full lines in Figure 3 and the fully opened position isshown inichain lines in this figure.

The upright edge of the door which is remote from the rod 18; in the.closed position is formed with a'hinged strip 25 having arubber edgingpiece 26, these parts being provided in order 'to avoid injury to apassenger who may inadvertently leave say his arm across the path ofmovement of the door as it isclosing." r

.YVhen the door is fully opened it lies closely against the wall 27 ofan enclosed space behind the end wall 28 of the Vehicle, and within thisenclosed space there isacoommodated a compressed-air motor 29 foroperating the door. This motor and its operative connections, with thedoor may take various forms according to circumstances. In thearrangement illustrated the motor 29 has an external crank arm 30 whichis arranged to rotate or oscillate in a horizontal plane. This crank armis connected by a rod 31 to an arm 32fast upon the rod- 18.Consequently, when .thecrank arm 30 isturned the rod 18 will becorrespondingly turned to cause the arms 16 and 17' to move the door,the guide tracks 23 and 24: serving to cause the door to follow.therequisite path. The arm 32 on the rod 18 is located of the level ofthe arms 16 and 17.

.The construction just described will be found to cause the requisitemovement of the door in a simple and efficient manner and will permitthe door to occupy convenient positions in its closed andopened statesand also to sweep over a comparativelysmall 7 area in moving from theone positlon to the other.

, In some circumstances it is possible to mount the motor 29 below thefloor of the a vehicle and thus increase the available space 1 adjacentto the doorway. Such a construction is illustrated in Fig. 4 in'whichtherod 18 is extended right down to and through the floor to carrytherebelow the arm 32. Since the guide-tracks 23 and 24 are at rightangles to each other with their centre lines intersecting the axis ofthe rod 18, itfollows' that these tracks must terminate short of thisrod. A result of this is that the door cannot be brought into a positionprecisely parallel with the track 23 in its closed position nor with thetrack 24 in its fully opened position. In these-circumstances it ispreferred that the door'in its fully closed position shall lie parallelwith the longitudinal centre line of the vehicle, so consequently thetracks 23 and 24 are set at-a small angle to the planes in-which thedoor lies in its closed and fully opened positions. 7

In the construction shown in Fig. 5, the

, crank arm is connected by an angular rod lines.

centres is provided both against movement. pushing it sideways onpushing it inwards. The rod 33 is attached 33 to one of theoperating-arms 16 and 17 at a point intermediate of the ends of thelatter. Themajor portion of the length of the rod 33 can always liebehind the wall 27 so as to be hidden, while only the extremity of therod need protrude through this wall to open the doorby to the crank arm30 by means of a sliding block 34: which is held between a fixedcollar35 and a spring 36. The purpose of this tively.

yielding connection between the doorand its operating motor is to ensurethat any pressure excited by the door when closin on din an obstacleshall not be of an unyiel nature. V I

' It is to be understood that the invention is not restricted to theprecise constructional details set forth.

I claim 1. In a door of the type described the combination with the doorofguide tracks dis-.

posed so that their centre lines intersect one another. at rightangles,lguiding elements on the door, one or more operating arms hingedat one end to a relatively stationary support to swing about an axisintersectingandpen pendicular to the said twocentre lines, said armseach havingpivotal connection at the other end with the door, the axesofpivoting.

at the two ends of the arms being parallel l and so disposed that aplane containing them" substantially bisects a line joining the centresof the guiding elements on the door which co-operate with the guidetracks.

2. Ina door of the type described'the come I I bination with thedoorof'guide tracks disposed so that their centre lines intersect oneanother at right angles, guiding elements on the door, one ormoreoperating arms hinged at one end to a relatively stationary support toswing about an axis intersecting and per+ pendicular to the said twocentre lines, said arms each having PIVOtalCOIlIlGctlOIl at the otherend with the door, the axes of pivoting at the two ends ofthe arms beingparallel and so disposed that aplane contaming them substantially'bisects a line joining the cen-. tres of the guiding elements onv thedoor which co-operate with the guide tracks, said guide tracks, whichare at right angles to each other, terminating short. of said axis andbeing angularly set relatively to the planes in which the door lies in.its fully closed and fully opened positions respec- In witness whereof Iafiix sign WILLIAM SEBASTlANGRAFF-BAKER;

ature. I

